The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesters and more specifically to structures for dumping cotton from the basket on such a harvester.
A cotton basket on a cotton harvester typically is pivotally mounted to the harvester frame for rocking up to 90 degrees about a fore-and-aft extending axis on the dump side of the machine. The structure permits a quick and complete emptying of the basket, but also presents several problems. Dumping partial loads such as when topping off a module builder is difficult since there is little control of the amount of cotton coming out of the basket. Often the operator and trailer crew are forced to complete basket unloading by hand or pick cotton up from the ground which has spilled over the receptacle during dumping. Some baskets incorporate a vane or fork structure to hold partial loads of cotton during dumping and although such structure has helped dump control considerably, a relatively heavy load must be maintained in the basket at the full dump position. Liftable baskets with a lower conveyor are available, but these types of baskets often tend to be slower in unloading and although there is better control of dumping, large blobs of cotton often emerge from the side opening of the basket and swell out over the dump side of the conveyor resulting in ground spillage or less than optimum trailer or module filling. Also, the basket must be lifted above the trailer or module builder, and the lifting structure to accomplish this tends to be bulky and expensive. Some conveyor systems have difficulty moving cotton when loaded heavily near the output end of the conveyor.